Asia-Pacific region reacts to Donald Trump’s election win

CCTV News

The DPRK has issued a new warning to the U.S. in the wake of Trump’s election win, saying that it will never give up its nuclear weapons. It comes as Donald Trump spoke by phone on Thursday with the South Korean President and promised to protect the long-time U.S. ally.

Asia-Pacific region reacts to Donald Trump's election win

Asia-Pacific leaders expect to find out whether Trump's policies will be consistent with his bold remarks during the campaign. CCTV's Roee Ruttenberg reports.

In his 10-minute call with ROK President Park Geun-hye, Donald Trump assured Seoul that the U.S. under his leadership would defend South Korea against any threat coming from the North.

It’s the type of assurance many South Koreans were hoping to hear, but uncertain they would because Trump said during his campaign that he would consider reducing the number of U.S. troops stationed in the South, which is now numbering nearly 30,000, if Seoul didn’t pay a greater share of the cost of their deployment. A 2014 deal has South Korea paying 40 percent of the cost.

Meanwhile on Thursday, an official publication in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea warned the U.S. against confrontation.

Without mentioning Trump by name, the newspaper condemned Barack Obama’s policy on Pyongyang, and said it had only left a bigger burden for his successor.

During his campaign, Trump had said he’d be open to meeting with DPRK leader Kim Jong-un. That’s despite a series of nuclear tests conducted by the North, which have been largely condemned around the world, including the DPRK’s biggest trading partner, China.

In Beijing on Thursday, officials were cautiously optimistic about working with Trump, not just on the Korean issue, but on trade. During the campaign, Trump had threatened to slap U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods, causing some to fear he’d start a trade war between the world’s two biggest economies.

Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP deal backed by Obama, excludes China, and was rejected during the campaign by Trump. One of the TPP’s main proponents is Japan. It’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called Trump on Thursday, and arranged to meet with him next week in New York.